NEW LAWSUIT CHALLENGES SEAWALL, BLUFF RULES

A group of homeowners has sued Solana Beach over recently approved rules that limit seawalls and development atop coastal bluffs.

The lawsuit was filed Friday, challenging a long-term land-use plan the city approved in February.

The lawsuit asks the court to invalidate the new regulations, claiming that the city violated state laws and the U.S. Constitution when it approved them. The policies prevent landowners from protecting their property from erosion and make it more difficult for them to maintain private beach stairways, it argues.

Calls to city spokesman Dan King and Mayor Mike Nichols weren’t immediately returned Monday afternoon.

The City Council approved the land-use plan after the California Coastal Commission returned an earlier version of the document with roughly 150 recommendations, including tighter restrictions on development and sea walls.

The homeowners group, known as the Beach & Bluff Conservancy, already filed a lawsuit last year against the Coastal Commission challenging those additions. That complaint hasn’t gone to court.

The Pacific Legal Foundation is representing the group in both lawsuits. The Sacramento-based organization specializes in coastal property rights.

The lawsuits are important “because the coastal commission has been pressuring cities to adopt policies that go far beyond what the Coastal Act requires,” Beard said. “They’re working very hard to get these provisions in that are very draconian.”

The California Coast Act, a state law approved in 1976, places regulations on development in coastal zones and requires any building or land development within one of these areas to go through the Coastal Commission. The legislation also allows cities to recover some of the decision-making authority by putting together their own plan, known as a Local Coastal Program.